Lying Words: Predicting Deception from Linguistic Styles

TLDR

Lies involve fabricating stories that differ qualitatively from true accounts. The study examined linguistic style features that differentiate true from false stories. A computer-based text analysis classified liars versus truth-tellers with 67 % accuracy on constant topics and 61 % overall across five samples. Liars exhibited lower cognitive complexity, fewer self‑ and other‑references, and more negative emotion words than truth‑tellers.

Abstract

Telling lies often requires creating a story about an experience or attitude that does not exist. As a result, false stories may be qualitatively different from true stories. The current project investigated the features of linguistic style that distinguish between true and false stories. In an analysis of five independent samples, a computer-based text analysis program correctly classified liars and truth-tellers at a rate of 67% when the topic was constant and a rate of 61% overall. Compared to truth-tellers, liars showed lower cognitive complexity, used fewer self-references and other-references, and used more negative emotion words.